Sunday, January 22, 2012

Review: The Moon Coin

Title: The Moon Coin Genre: middle-grade

Author: Richard Due Sub-genre: fantasy

Series:Moon Realm Series, Book One

Page Count: 297 Chapters: 21

Lily Winter and her brother, Jasper have always loved the bedtime tales their Uncle Ebb told them about a fantastical place called the Moon Realm. But as the children grew older, the tales lost their magic and they became just good stories. Nine years after Lily and Jasper heard their first tale, Uncle Ebb goes missing. Lily and Jasper search his house, in hopes of finding some clue as to where he has gone. On their search, they find mysterious rooms they had never been allowed in before. Uncle Ebb's private rooms. In one of these secret rooms they find a strange coin that was covered in strange symbols strung up on a necklace. The moon coin. That necklace would take Lily to the Moon Realm, a place that was supposed to be only make-believe. Only it wasn't really and Lily finds the Moon Realm in dire need of saving. She takes it upon herself, and in turn, her brother, to be the savior of the nine moons and all the fascinating inhabitants of them. Will the two be enough to save an entire universe? I loved this. Every page grips the readers further into the Moon Realm. The writing is so beautiful and vivid, I had no trouble seeing the whole thing in my mind, like a movie. The characters, especially those from the Moon Realm are so well-rounded and the actual moons themselves are just plain amazing. They are well-developed and practically individual characters themselves. Form the Rinn of Barreth to the Dragondain of Dain, each moon introduced me to a whole new world with a new set of characters, but the transition was flawless. I was so far into these worlds, I still thought about them for days after I finished it. Also, I will add that I thought the ending was perfect, setting the stage for a sequel. This was an amazing first installment of the Moon Realm Series. I am very impatiently waiting for the sequel, The Dragondain, which doesn't have a set date for release yet.